US role in higher education policy Federal government demonstrated greater increase in higher education Billions of dollars in research grants National Institutes of Health NIH National Science Foundation NSF Morrill Act o 1862 o Helped develop nation s land grant college system o Contributed to economic development during 19 and 20 centuries Federal government fully funds service academies o U S Military Academy and West Point New York o U S Naval Academy at Annapolis Maryland o 60 000 per year for each student Direct payments and subsidized loans GI Bill and the Pell Grant provide money directly to eligible students o Originally servicemen s readjustment act of 1944 Pell Grant offers awards up to 4 731 2008 2009 to undergrads Cost of Higher Education Cost of college education continues to rise o Rising faster than the rate of inflation Important issues Competition for funding has increased o Prison system and Medicaid o State support provided to students especially those attending state institutions Colleges and universities therefore raise tuition to make up for the shortfall Larger proportion of these dollars is likely to go to middle to upper income families thus providing less financial help for low income students Education is also a positive externatility in that society benefits from a more educated population Spending is a good investment for the state o Texas receives a 5 50 return for every dollar spent School finance Funding Local property taxes State and local governments maintain large measure of control over school curriculums in their jurisdictions Problems o Equity o Property tax does not keep pace with inflationary costs of providing an education While teacher salaries textbooks school supplies and other costs continue to increase the amount of money provided through property taxes remain unchanged Property tax revenue varies considerably among 50 state within states New York spent 14 884 per student while Utah spent 5 437 Students from poor areas may be receiving a lower quality education Michigan for example adopted a statewide sales tax that is to be distributed to the state s school districts according to need System of redistributing a portion of the revenue to poorer districts within the state Act 60 which uses a portion of the tax money from richer communities to help fund the schools in poorer districts Property tax Redistribution across districts Sales tax properties Not equitable Elastic School Choice School Vouchers School Choice and Charter Schools Schools do not need to improve their product because they have a guaranteed market Public schools are a government sponsored monopoly Gives parents options about where to send their children to school Supporters argue that when parents can exercise choice the schools will compete for students by providing higher quality education School choice programs allow parents to send their children to any public school in a particular area o Competition among public schools School vouchers o Promoting competition o Government provides a certain dollar amount that parents can then apply to private or parochial school tuition or as part of the full cost of a public school education o Bringing private schools into the education market o Most school voucher systems are limited in that they are aimed at assisting low income o Could violate an individual s religious freedom and the principle of separation of church students and state o Giving public money to parents to send their children to parochial schools is a clear violation of the First Amendment Funds are being used to promote religion Charter school High Stakes Testing o Government supported but independent o Limited control by the school board o 4 300 o Another form of voucher system Can we improve schools with required tests o Assures that people have core of information o Can be a barrier to graduation Has No Child Left Behind helped o Arguments against standardized tests o Teachers teaching test o Without it what markers Nationally formed achievement intelligence No Child Left Behind Controversial Problems o Way exams are written and graded may introduce racial or cultural bias o Imposition of such standards an infringement on state and local education o Testing is expensive o Private schools being exempt but given benefits o Classroom time spent prepping States are not adequately funded Economic Issues Political issues Libertarian think tanks o Cato Institute An area of policy best left to the states one in which the federal government has no place National Education Association NEA American Federation of teachers AFT o Not strong supporters of testing requirements Effectiveness Purpose of testing requirements is to ensure that students education is improving towards proficiency Ensure that students are learning appropriate material before being passed along to the next grade Ensure a form of accountability of the education system by having a systematic measure of student performance Issues o Overall student performance and closing achievement gaps among different groups of students o States responsible for determining their own standards the test used and what it means to be proficient Makes comparisons across states to be difficult The Center on Education Policy CEP bills itself as a nonpartisan organization concerned about public education and more effective public schools Achievement gaps had narrowed in more state than where they had widened Impossible to determine whether or not these improvements are a direct result of NCLB Math and reading achievement test scores have gone up in most states Number of efforts at the state and local levels to improve education as well Education Trust another nonprofit organization found that while progress is being made at the elementary school level the results are not as promising at the middle and high school levels Moral Hazard Equity and Ethical Issues Does NCLB work Equity is sometimes seen as freedom from government intervention Requirements that are being imposed by the federal government in a policy area that traditionally has been the purview of state and local governments Hard to tell Difficult to find unbiased evaluations but there s some indication of modest success There s not a single test but a series of benchmarks o Mainly at the elementary level 25 of school districts getting NCLB money had at least one failing school Some differences between state and national proficiency o Differences between FCAT
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